Pilgrimage series: Shrine of the Miraculous Medal

Editor's note: Seventeenth in a series on the sacred places and tombs of saints included in The Compass pilgrimage to Rome and Paris that retired Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks will lead May 3-13. (More information on pilgrimage)

By Tony Staley

	Shrine of the Miraculous Medal What: Site of Mary's apparitions to St. Catherine Laboure When: 1830 Where: Daughters of Charity Motherhouse on Rue du Bac in Paris

On the fourth day back in France, the pilgrims will go to the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal at the Motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris.

The shrine includes the incorrupt body of St. Catherine Laboure, to whom the Miraculous Medal was revealed, and the waxed body of St. Louise de Marillac, who with St. Vincent de Paul founded the Daughters of Charity.

The medal dates to 1830. It shows Mary standing on a globe with shafts of light from her hands, surrounded by the words, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." On the reverse is a capital M, topped by a cross, above two hearts, one crowned with thorns (the Sacred Heart of Jesus) and the other pierced by a sword (the Immaculate Heart of Mary).

Catherine (Zoé) was born in 1806 on a farm in Fain-les-Moutiers, France. She never attended school and did not know how to read or write because starting at age 8 she had to care for the family after her mother died.

Eventually she wanted to join her older sister, Marie Louise, in the Daughters of Charity, but her father objected until April 21, 1830. Three months later, on July 18, Catherine, still a postulant, was awakened at 11:30 p.m. by a child, who said, "Come to the chapel, the Blessed Virgin is waiting for you."

She prayed silently for a half-hour in the brightly lit chapel until the child said: "Look, the Blessed Virgin, she is here."

Mary said, "Come to the foot of this altar. There, graces will be poured out on all those who ask for them with confidence and fervor. They will be poured out on the great and humble."

On Nov. 27, Mary showed her the medal design and asked her to have it made in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

Catherine told only her confessor about the medal. He was skeptical, but finally, at her insistence, took the matter to the Archbishop of Paris, who in 1832 gave his permission to have 1,500 Miraculous Medals made. Today there are millions around the world. The archbishop also appointed a special commission that in 1836 ruled that Catherine's visions were authentic.

Catherine spent the rest of her life answering the convent door, tending chickens, helping the old men living at Hospice d'Enghien and laughing if anyone asked if she was the "sister of the apparitions." She told only her confessor that Mary had revealed the medal to her until eight months before she died, when Catherine told her religious superior about the visions.

St. Louise de Marillac was born Aug. 12, 1591, probably near Meux, France. She was educated by Dominican nuns and wanted to be a nun. But on her confessor's advice she married Antony Le Gras, a royal official, in 1613 and they had a son, Michael.

Antony died in 1625 after a long illness. Louise asked St. Vincent de Paul to be her confessor and spiritual advisor. Four years later, he asked her to direct the Ladies of Charity in caring for the sick, poor and neglected. In 1633, the Sisters or Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, began when she opened a center to train women to work among the poor.

In 1634, after convincing Vincent to let her make vows, she outlined a rule. In 1642, the first four women began making annual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In 1655 they became the first Vatican approved congregation of women to live and work in the community, rather than cloistered in an abbey.

When Louise died in 1660, the sisters, who worked in hospitals and orphanages, had more than 40 houses in France. They can now be found around the world.

(Staley is a retired editor of The Compass.)

Next: Congregation of the Mission